Nicole Osborne on using video marketing and LinkedIn for customer engagement – MAF180

My guest this week is Nicole Osborne, owner of Lollipop Social and a social media and video marketing champion.

We talk about how Nicole left her job as a marketing director to set up her own company and how she helps companies put together strategies for social media and video marketing.

Welcome to episode 180 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Nicole Osborne on using video marketing and LinkedIn for customer engagement - MAF180

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • How businesses of all sizes can use social media
  • Why people dislike the word ‘strategy’
  • The benefits of using video for business
  • Nicole’s tips for video production
  • How Nicole helps her clients grow their businesses
  • Why businesses should use LinkedIn

Who is Nicole Osborne?

Nicole runs Lollipop Social, a marketing company based in London. She moved from Germany 20 years ago and has worked with many business leaders on marketing and growth. She did well in her career as a marketing director but when she became a mum struggled to find a senior role with flexibility.

She decided to use her skills, experience and passion for helping entrepreneurs to sweeten up their marketing and set up her own business. She upskilled in digital marketing and started Lollipop Social a year ago. The name comes from the fact that she gives her son a lollipop to keep him happy in airport queues.

Nicole comes from a family of Eastern German entrepreneurs and enjoys working with ambitious entrepreneurs, bringing a combination of heaps of German logic and empathy to all her marketing projects.

Summary of our chat

For big companies, it’s important to have social media policies, brand guidelines and guardianship. They have more money to experiment, but there’s always a risk of death by committee. Nicole says when she works with smaller companies they can try new things quickly, which bigger ones can’t.

Nicole uses phrases like ‘roadmap to success’ with clients rather than the dreaded ‘strategy’. It’s still about knowing where you are now and where you’re going. She applies the traditional marketing tools to develop the roadmap, but avoids the word strategy so people aren’t switched off by the language.

Nicole started learning about video a year ago, seeing that it was an amazing way for people to get to know her. She recommends video to clients, so has to use it too. She worked to overcome her fears, realising that you can’t learn how to do video from a course.

The key to video is to just do it, and don’t delete it afterwards. Nicole’s favourite tip is not to compare yourself to someone who’s been doing it for years, but look at their early videos. Everyone has to start somewhere! You will improve with every take.

When Nicole starts with a new client, she learns about their strengths, the competition, ideal customers and areas of interest. Then she maps the ideas back to their brand values. To succeed with content marketing, you need to be clear on your target audiences, their challenges, problems and where they hang out.

LinkedIn is now a great place to share video, so long as people stay on the platform. Nicole says you need to make it easy for viewers to reply, and then go in and engage with them. It’s harder for big businesses to use it, but LinkedIn is a great place to make connections.

A marketing campaign or product that grabbed Nicole’s attention

Nicole liked a recent Heineken beer advert which got a diverse mixture of people into a room. They were asked to fix something and had to work together. Viewers didn’t know what would happen, but it was a great way to challenge assumptions and unite people. It’s a powerful way to communicate messages.

Nicole’s book recommendations

Nicole enjoyed “The Hippo Campus” by Andrew and Pete. In it they talk about building a brand to stand out in a good way. It came at the time when she’d just left the corporate world and was looking to do something different. They have an engaging style and give great tips, and Nicole still refers to the book now.

She also read Chris Ducker’s “Rise of the Youpreneur” after attending his conference last year, and highly recommends “Vlog Like a Boss” by Amy Schmittauer.

Links and contact details

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Pete Walter: From TV producer and media consultant to marketing services provider – MAF178

My guest this week is Pete Walter, one time TV producer now a media consultant who recently set up his own marketing services company.

We talk about how Pete set up BuzzRamp and the challenges he faced, and how his subscription model works and differs from traditional marketing agencies.

Welcome to episode 178 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Pete Walter: From TV producer and media consultant to marketing services provider - MAF178

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • What a TV producer does
  • How to deal with difficult media questions
  • Why Pete decided to launch a marketing business
  • How Pete’s company helps small businesses
  • Where it fits in with other agency solutions
  • The biggest challenge Pete faced setting up BuzzRamp

Who is Pete Walter?

After university Pete wanted to be an author and to run nightclub events for under 16s. When he failed at both of these, he worked his way up in television. Pete was a BBC producer for a range of politics, comedy and detective shows.

Moving between TV genres, Pete realised he didn’t enjoy his job. He was briefly a singer/songwriter and hosted a cabaret night. He became a media trainer and still runs that business. This led him to marketing and PR, and he now runs a marketing agency helping people produce content. He loves making ideas happen and says that’s what drives him.

Summary of our chat

Pete explains that a TV producer is essentially the project manager of the show. He has responsibility for one episode, working alongside the series producer. He says the role played to his strengths as he’s interested in a variety of things. It allowed him to get involved in bringing the whole project together.

We talked about handling difficult media conversations, for example an appearance on a Watchdog type programme. Pete says if you manage to convey one of your business messages in a media interview, that’s good. The trick is to turn any question you’re asked into an answer to express a message elegantly. It’s a useful skill to have, as you can avoid certain topics and put your point across.

While running a media training business, Pete created an eLearning course which forms part of the package he offers to big clients. He tried to sell it to small businesses, assuming they’d be preparing for media appearances. However, this wasn’t a priority for them, but the basics of PR and social media were.

Pete’s company is designed for small businesses doing their own marketing who can’t afford an agency. His solution makes their marketing as effective as possible, especially when they don’t have enough time for it. The platform provides support for a range of marketing needs, giving suggested tasks for each.

BuzzRamp fits in between people who are trying to do it all themselves and those who can afford an agency. If people can build their social media, have hits with PR and grow their business through the support on the BuzzRamp website, that’s a success story for the business.

Pete says his biggest mistake was not creating enough of an audience before he launched. He found it challenging being in the software world, because he doesn’t speak developers’ language. Focusing on the technical side meant that building an audience fell by the wayside. It’s important not to neglect that.

One Thing Pete Would Like Listeners to Take Away

Pete recommends concentrating on one platform to market yourself, and doing that to the very best of your abilities. It’s fine to be across different social media platforms, but if you’re a solopreneur or have a small team, it’s about choosing the one where your audience is.

People can often get caught up with the latest feature on a platform and don’t produce content consistently, which is the key to communicating effectively with your customers.

A marketing campaign or product that grabbed Pete’s attention

Pete said he recently saw an advert for Greggs Bakers where they attended a foodie event. They rebranded themselves as Gregory and Gregory and set up a stall with grey branding.

They gave out samples of the new Greggs summer menu, and all the foodies compliment the food. When they ask who the company is the staff turn the signs around to show that they’re actually Greggs.

Pete loves a good publicity stunt and is trying to come up with one for BuzzRamp – possibly giving someone free lifetime subscription if they have the initials PR. He wants to do something that makes people sit up and take notice.

Pete’s book recommendation

Pete says he’s a big fan of Contagious by Jonah Berger, which is quite a famous marketing book. He thinks it’s fantastic for anyone who wants to learn about what makes things go viral and why publicity stunts work, or don’t work.

Links and contact details

If you enjoyed – Pete Walter: From TV producer and media consultant to marketing services provider – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.

And if you know anyone who would enjoy the show – please share it with them. You can use the buttons below to share on social media.

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Zero knowledge and the key to simple marketing communications – MAF172

The key to simple marketing is to assume your customer knows nothing.

And bizarrely enough the latest revamp of TV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire provided a perfect example of this.

Welcome to episode 172 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Zero knowledge and the key to simple marketing communications – MAF172

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • How your own knowledge can stop you keeping things simple
  • The three rules for simple marketing communications
  • Why assuming your customer knows nothing is key
  • Where on Earth is Mallorca?

If you enjoyed – Zero knowledge and the key to simple marketing communications – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.

And if you know anyone who would enjoy the show – please share it with them. You can use the buttons below to share on social media.

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